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Last week, Lauren Hill of Mount St. Joseph University courageously took the floor for her first college game, refusing to let an inoperable brain tumor keep her from achieving her dream – and WNBA stars Elena Delle Donne and Tamika Catchings were on hand to lend their support.

Sparks-Sky Preview

By ALAN FERGUSONPosted Jun 29 2013 12:28AM

While they've had few problems earning wins at home, the Los Angeles Sparks are again struggling to win road games early in the season.

The Sparks get another chance to end their winless drought away from home Saturday night but will have to keep the Chicago Sky from matching the best home start in franchise history.

Los Angeles (5-3) recorded its first win streak of the season by sweeping a three-game homestand, capped by Sunday's 79-69 victory over Washington. The Sparks didn't play again until Friday but were blown out 88-64 in Minnesota. They shot a season-low 36.9 percent and failed to top 75 points for the first time in 2013 after averaging 83.3 points on 50.3 percent shooting during the homestand.

They're scoring 74.3 per game and shooting 40.7 during an 0-3 start on the road, compared to 85.6 points and 51.1 percent at home. With New York's 67-62 win in Seattle on Friday, the Sparks are now the league's only team without a road win. Los Angeles has started 0-5 or worse away from home in three of the past four seasons.

Chicago-area native Candace Parker had a team-best 17 points and 11 rebounds Friday, but Los Angeles was beaten on the boards 47-28.

"Our rebounding was atrocious, and that's the key to everything," coach Carol Ross said. "It also shows that we weren't ready to play. It's my job to get them ready to play, and we didn't do it.

"Hopefully, we'll get up off the mat. We've got to do it quickly. We're going to play another tremendous rebounding team in Chicago."

The Sky have the league's top rebounder in Sylvia Fowles at 13.0 per game, but it's the return of guard Epiphanny Prince from the Russian national team which has keyed victories in the last two games.

Prince scored a team-best 21 points in a 71-61 victory at Indiana last Saturday in her first game back, then contributed 14 in an 87-74 win over visiting New York on Wednesday. Standout rookie Elena Delle Donne provided a career-high 26 points in the latest win and Fowles recorded her fifth double-double in nine games.

"My shot felt good today, I got some extra adrenaline because the last game it was poor (career-low 13 points versus Indiana)," Delle Donne said. "It's nice to see hard work pay off."

Chicago (6-3), one of the league's four unbeaten home teams at 4-0, registered a franchise-best 5-0 start at home in 2009.

Los Angeles and Chicago split last season's two meetings with the home team earning the victory in each. Prince led six Sky players in double figures with 17 points and had a career-high nine assists in an 85-74 win Sept. 2. Nneka Ogwumike's career-high 30 points paced the Sparks in an 86-77 victory Sept. 13.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Prince scores 21 as Sky beat Sparks 94-82

Posted Jun 29 2013 11:40PM

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) Epiphanny Prince scored 21 points and Elena Delle Donna had 20 to lead a balanced offense as the Chicago Sky held off a late Los Angeles surge in a 94-82 victory over the Sparks on Saturday night.

Sylvia Fowles added 17 points in the first half before leaving with an apparent right ankle injury, Courtney Vandersloot scored 12 points and Swin Cash 10 for the Sky (7-3). Chicago won its fifth straight at home, matching a franchise record set in 2009.

Candace Parker, who went to high school in nearby Naperville, scored 23 points to lead the Sparks (5-4), losers of two straight. Nneka Ogwumike had 13, Alana Beard added 11 and Jantel Lavender 10 as Los Angeles dropped to 0-4 on the road.

``To win on the road you really have to defend and rebound, you've got to take care of the ball and do all the little things,'' said Los Angeles coach Carol Ross, whose team finished 4-13 on the road last season. ``We're not there yet.''

The Sky, winners of three straight, led 67-62 to open the final quarter and weathered a Sparks comeback that cut the lead to 70-68 on Parker's layup with 8:00 left. Less than six minutes later, Chicago was up 84-73 following Delle Donne's driving layup.

``We said we really had to executive offensively and really take care of the ball and get good looks and play good defense,'' Delle Donne said. ``A lot of times we were getting good looks but shots weren't falling.''

Fowles came back to the bench midway through the third quarter on crutches and with her ankle in splint. But she insisted she'll be fine.

``Deep down inside I know I'll be OK,'' she said.

Fowles scored 11 points in the first quarter, shooting 7 for 11 from the free-throw line as Chicago opened a 27-11 lead.

The Sparks trailed 16-15 following Michelle Campbell's layup with 3:31 left in the period, but the Sky closed the quarter with an 11-2 run as Cash had back-to-back jumpers while Delle Donne hit a 3-pointer.

The Sky led by 11 points in the second quarter before the Sparks closed the gap to 47-41 by halftime.

Parker had eight points in the second quarter and closed the half with 12. Fowles had six in the second but tumbled under the Sky basket and left the game with 2:23 left in the half.

Chicago maintained the lead without Fowles as Prince scored 12 in the third quarter to help the Sky maintain a double-digit lead through much of the period. But A'Dia Mathies' 3 pointer and Parker's driving layup in the final 44 seconds trimmed Chicago's lead to 67-62 by quarter's end.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited